Finders Keepers
by littlesparrow33
Summary: Relationships have never been Willie Wonka's forte. Can he learn how to take care of one small child? nonslash, kinda dark. [I really suck at summaries]


Disclaimer I do not own any of the characters, plots, or locations from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl and Warner Bros. Studios hold all rights to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and this story is only created for pleasure, not profit.

Author's Note: My admiration and adoration of Johnny Depp has spurred me on to write a fanfic on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Many people have told me that they preferred the first version of the movie and I defy them all! Tim Burton made Willy Wonka so wonderfully twisted and, I feel, improved the overall outlook of the movie. Although I can not truly express what I felt when I saw the Ooompa-Loompas and heard their songs, to be sure it was some mixture of stunned and incredulous with a final dash of acceptance that nothing could be done about it. Very difficult to explain, but that's how it is.

Finders Keepers 

Willy Wonka was a very complicated man. His psychiatrist knew it and certainly everyone he met knew it, though it was mostly mistaken for insanity. Truthfully, they may have been correct, but Wonka himself preferred to think of it as a type of artistic genius. That is, if he thought of it at all. His thoughts tended to be consumed by his factory and his new creations in the Inventing Room. Wonka's mind was surprisingly (or not so surprisingly, given his vocation in life) much like that of a child's, believing in the possibility of anything and everything, except what he didn't want to believe in. This was, perhaps, the reason that it took so long to reconcile with his father.

The curious thing about Willy Wonka was the one thing that he was somewhat hypocritical over, greed. To be sure, Wonka recognized the greed in the children that had visited his factory and detested it, but that is not what made him a hypocrite. No, Wonka certainly never tried to grasp for more than he had, as he had plenty for himself in his factory, and he cared for the happiness that he created with his candy. However, when Wonka considered something to belong to him, he became very possessive. He would no sooner give up his own possessions than blow up his factory. Wonka had a tendency not to share what he had with others either, like his recipes and his factory. This was understandable in several views and gave Wonka no harmful effects concerning his life; however, it was still childish greed, which would eventually lead to trouble.

That trouble came in the form of one Charlie Bucket.

In the weeks after Charlie and his family had moved into the chocolate factory, Charlie found himself very occupied with learning the makings of candy and chocolates. Acting as a sort of quirky mentor, Wonka taught Charlie all of the fundamentals of candy creations. They began to work together tremendously and surprisingly well. Soon, new candies were flooding into the world market and Wonka sales were booming once again, after the drop that occurred just after the famous factory tour. The two chocolatiers spent the majority of their time in the inventing room, working on the new creations as well as some old ideas of Wonka's that had never quite made it to product. Charlie enjoyed this time immensely and he felt that he got to know his childhood hero very well.

Once he had learned the Inventing Room backwards and forwards, however, Charlie felt the need to explore the rest of the factory and requested a more extensive tour from Wonka. Wonka had laughed and waved his hands about, saying, "All in good time, Charlie, all in good time," and proceeded to lecture Charlie on how the chocolate market actually worked. Mollified and with complete faith in his mentor, Charlie listened avidly while briefly surprised that Wonka had a decent business sense as well as being a magician with chocolate.

The next week found Charlie becoming restless for adventure again and reminded Wonka of his desire to see the rest of the factory. Wonka had given Charlie a stern look that Charlie had rarely seen directed at him. Seeing Charlie cringe away, Wonka's face softened slightly, realizing that he had frightened his young protégé, and assured Charlie that they would tour the factory once he had their latest invention all sorted out. But some new complication or new idea always seemed to spring into their minds whenever it looked as though they would have time to journey through the world's largest factory. By this time, Charlie had even become familiar with the glimpses of the amazing sights he passed by way of the Great Glass Elevator between the Chocolate Room and the Inventing Room. He knew that he should be patient, as Wonka was an eccentric man and didn't seem able to focus on one thing alone for long, but Charlie felt his creativity slipping away beneath his desire to see the inner workings of the factory.

One morning, Charlie woke up early in his recently improved loft. It was far earlier than when he and Wonka usually went to the Inventing Room, though sometimes Charlie wondered if the odd man slept at all, as he usually seemed to be in the middle of something. Staring at the ceiling for a bit, Charlie felt the urge to go adventure to some of the rooms he had not been to yet. Surely he would have time to visit a couple of rooms before beginning his day with Wonka, and he would be able to slip back into bed before anyone had noticed he was gone. His conscience nagged at him that he shouldn't poke about without permission from Wonka, and what would his mentor think of him if he simply ventured out without consulting him at all. The urge only grew greater, and for the first time, Charlie felt excitement over doing something ordinarily forbidden to him. Taking care to make as little sound as possible, as the walls were still thin in the Bucket house, Charlie carefully climbed out his window and onto the roof. He slid gently down to leap onto the pile of sugar snow that Wonka had taken delight in putting over their house for the winter. Pausing, he listened for any movements in the house. Hearing none, Charlie quickly made his way towards a side door that led to some of the back passages of the factory.

Feeling excited, Charlie was relieved that he didn't come across any ooompa-loompas along the path. Although he knew that they wouldn't play any seriously harmful practical jokes on him, as he had come to know them quite well by now, he was sure that they would tell Wonka that he was out and about, and he didn't want his adventure to end so soon. The passage that he was going through was more of a tunnel that seemed to be sloping sharply down into the depths below the factory. Charlie had known about the door to the passage for weeks and had been curious as to where it went to, what rooms might be on it. Now, he was relieved that it didn't seem to have a track for the Great Glass Elevator, as he didn't want to be spotted. There didn't seem to be many rooms branching off of the tunnel, however, and Charlie felt that he walked for at least a mile underground, also feeling the passage turn round towards the left. Finally, the tunnel seemed to level off and Charlie could see a room ahead of him. Rushing towards the door, Charlie moved close to read the label.

Dragon's Lair 

Feeling slightly nervous and a little guiltier of entering the room without permission, Charlie timidly turned the knob and creaked the door open. The room was dark, with a deep red glow seeming to come from the ground itself. Charlie crouched down to take a closer look and found it to be a type of red rock candy that he had not seen before. The pieces all seemed to reflect the color of the other, as opposed to having their own color themselves. It was like looking into a reflection through a dozen mirrors and Charlie felt a little dizzy just looking at it. It was rather entrancing though, as they seemed to sparkle like rubies. Wrenching his eyes away from the sight, Charlie moved to explore the rest of the room.

Candy boulders jutted forth from the ground in certain places and it seemed to be nearly as large as the Chocolate Room, though Charlie couldn't be certain in the dark. He could hear a hissing sound that he determined must be steam. It sounded exactly like several of the machines he and Wonka worked with up in the Inventing Room. A strange movement could be heard over towards the side, and Charlie nervously looked over, backing against a boulder instinctively trying to hide. He crouched down and waited as he heard the sound come closer. Puffs of steam could be seen in the air, shining from the ruby red glow. Charlie's eyes widened as he saw a dragon move in his direction.

The dragon's scales shone more like liquid than the sparkle of the candy around them. They were a deep brown in color, like some of Wonka's specially dark chocolates, but it's eyes were a molten lava color. Charlie froze at the sight of it's tail. It's tip was spotted with spikes that were at least eight inches long that journeyed in two rows up towards it's shoulder blades, where broad wings flared out like sharp kites. It was a beautiful, deadly sight and Charlie was torn between gazing in wonder or running away in terror. All thoughts of that choice left him, as he saw the dragon turn directly into his gaze. With a snort, the dragon bent it's head towards Charlie, two sharp, four-inch horns coming into clear view a little too close for Charlie's comfort. The dragon's forked tongue came out to taste the air around Charlie, who could not have moved if he tried. Every movement the dragon made hypnotized him, and the little voice of his rational mind screamed to go, but was smothered by his fear.

A sound echoed over in the direction that the dragon had come from, and the dragon pulled away to look sharply towards the sound. Without a glance at Charlie, it lumbered away towards whatever had caught it's interest and Charlie nearly collapsed in relief. It was short-lived, however, once he realized that he could not collapse, he could not move an inch! Feeling panicked, Charlie's mind began to scream at him that this was all a terrible idea and that he never should have came here. As it was, had Charlie been able to move, he would have screamed as a hand came from nowhere heavily onto his shoulder.

Out of his peripheral vision, Charlie saw Wonka move around him to kneel down in front of him, a hard look on his face. Wonka stared intently into Charlie's eyes until Charlie gasped and finally slumped forward into his mentor's arms. The chocolatier quickly gathered Charlie up and rushed out the door of the room. Charlie buried his face into Wonka's neck and didn't move as they strode back up the tunnel, not pausing until they exited into the Chocolate Room. Once there, Wonka abruptly stopped and set Charlie down. Charlie almost threw himself back into Wonka's arms, close to tears, but stopped short at the harsh look on his mentor's face. Falling to the ground, Charlie looked up at Wonka's face, eyes pleading for him to forgive Charlie's foolishness.

Wonka's voice was cold as he addressed Charlie, "Do you have any idea what could have happened on your own in that room?"

Tears did fall from Charlie's eyes as he looked up at his childhood hero, desperately, "I am so sorry! I should never have gone! I didn't mean… I'm sorry!" He was stuck to the ground in much the same way as he had been frozen before the dragon. Charlie knew that he could not move with Wonka's gaze on him like that.

Wonka bent down slightly towards Charlie, casting a dark shadow across his face, "Had I not found you before I did, that dragon would have taken you back to her cave and made you her breakfast." Wonka's very breath seemed frosty as he spoke, "Did you want to become my dragon's first course of the day, Charlie?"

Never looking from the serious man in front of him, Charlie earnestly shook his head, "No!"

Reaching forward, Wonka stroke a single, gloved finger over Charlie's cheek, still staring intensely, "My dragon would have found you a delightful treat. She would have gobbled you down like children gobble down their first sweet of the day." Charlie shuddered beneath Wonka's touch and the chocolatier lowered his voice, "Your bones would have been a wonderful crunch for her enjoyment and your sweet blood would have spread over her tongue like melted caramel." Crying out, Charlie's eyes closed in terror of the mental images that Wonka was presenting and he was briefly lost in his fear. Wonka paused and Charlie felt him edge closer until finally grasping Charlie in an embrace. In his fear, Charlie quivered even more at Wonka's touch, but grasped at his velvet coat, even though it offered no comfort.

"Now you see, Charlie," Wonka's voice seemed less harsh and spoke as if to the air rather than Charlie, "in my quest for perfect chocolate, I have invented many dangerous things. I've spawned wonderful creations, but often in my youth, I was reckless and did not care to make the source of my inventions safe for people. There are many dangers to my factory, Charlie, and you cannot be allowed to be hurt by them, you understand?" The gloved hand softly stroked over Charlie's back, but it did not seem to provide the comfort he sought, it only seemed to hold him in place.

Charlie felt so small in Wonka's arms, and for the first time, Charlie felt the strangeness that seemed inherent to Wonka's character in an entirely new light. He was frightened by Wonka and he could not figure out why. Burying his face in his mentor's chest, Charlie sobbed anew, and didn't reply.

In an almost soothing voice, Wonka told him, "Don't be afraid, Charlie. I won't allow you to be harmed. I will make sure of it." Some hidden subtext in the chocolatier's words caused a deep chill to run through Charlie and he felt entirely helpless. They remained there for a long time, Wonka allowing Charlie to cry himself out until he stood them up and they made their way to the Inventing Room and had a spot of lunch before setting to work.

Though it had taken a long time for Charlie to calm down, he had managed to appear fine to his family later on at dinner. For some reason, he had no wish to tell them of his morning disaster, not because of his carelessness, but something in Wonka's voice had locked the memory in himself as something personal. He would not feel right to speak of it. And so, the next month went by, with Charlie feeling no urge to explore on his own again. Wonka himself was keeping a sharp eye on Charlie, meeting him outside the Bucket house every morning and dropping him off every evening, often staying for supper with the family. They worked together much the same as they had before, though sometimes Charlie had to force the enthusiasm whenever his mentor had a particular look to his eye.

It seemed as though Charlie was never alone anymore either. Whenever Charlie got an idea and moved to work on a particular spot in the Inventing Room, Wonka was always right there with him. And whenever Wonka left for some business elsewhere in the factory, it always seemed as though the ooompa-loompas were watching him closely. It made Charlie feel rather uncomfortable and he often slipped up during an experiment and had to start over again. Though the candies he created did not reflect the lingering fear and nerves he held, his candies did have a particular edge to them that seemed to reflect a certain tang that was particularly addicting to several test subjects and eventually to the general populace. Sales had increased again, but Charlie felt little to no joy over the prospect, though he smiled when he saw Wonka hop around excitedly for nearly an entire day.

He was split over his feelings towards his mentor. Charlie still felt very close to the odd man and shared his joy in creating chocolates and candies. Yet there was a darker side to Wonka that seemed to come out sporadically, sending trills of coldness through Charlie. He was caught between wanting to share everything with Wonka like an excited little schoolboy and running away from him for safety. Yet he always found himself standing by Wonka, even during the moments where the darkness most repulsed him.

One day, Wonka came by the Bucket house early and addressed Charlie during breakfast.

"Charlie, my boy!" Wonka greeted cheerfully. "Something has come up in one of the Fudge Rooms that I must take a look at," At this, Charlie briefly felt that stirring of excitement of exploration for the first time since his encounter with the dragon, but his heart fell soon after. "So, Charlie, I will meet you in the Inventing Room after I'm done with that silly business, okay?" Wonka gave Charlie a clueless sort of look and Charlie unenthusiastically nodded. "Great!" the chocolatier tipped his hat and quickly sprang out the door.

After finishing his meal, Charlie left to realize that Wonka had taken the Great Glass Elevator to his destination. Smiling to himself, Charlie moved down to the chocolate river and climbed into a small rowboat. He had found that, unlike the infamous tour, the river did not always rush as a roller coaster and since he had a particular destination in mind, the rowboat would easily and calmly make it's way there directly. Quietly, Charlie pushed the rowboat away from the shore, laid down, and closed his eyes. After some time, he felt the rowboat still and he looked up, a little sleepy from the soft rocking of the river. Charlie was surprised to find that they were not at the door of the Inventing Room. The boat slowly began to move forward again, but Charlie impulsively jumped off onto the ledge. He watched as the boat continued on without him and he turned towards the door.

The Workshop 

Considering carefully, Charlie felt fear creeping in at the memory of the dragon, but he didn't think that anything in the Workshop could attack him or eat him, so he eased the door open and stepped inside. Blinking away at the resulting bright light, Charlie waited until he could see what was in the room. He was surprised to find several tools moving and clanging, but no one around to work them. Taking a closer look, Charlie noticed that instead of metal blades, all of the sharp tools were made of what appeared to be glass. Saws, axes, nails, all of a misty-looking glass. There were several stations scattered about the room, each building something different. But before Charlie could take one step closer, he was spun around from behind to face a very angry chocolatier.

Wonka had a ferocious scowl on his face that made any curiosity Charlie felt fly away at once to be replaced by terror again. "What are you doing here, Charlie?" he growled, making the hair rise on Charlie's neck.

Charlie whimpered as Wonka's hand grasped his neck and dragged him from the room. He did not look at his mentor, only whispered, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry."

Closing the door sharply behind them, Wonka turned to Charlie, "Have you not learned? This factory is dangerous without me to control it." He glared steadily at Charlie, who was frozen with fear. Apparently, Charlie's silence only served to anger Wonka more and he burst forth, "What were you thinking, Charlie? Do you know how many of the tools in that room could have hurt you? They do not always recognize candy from people. They only do as they were made to do, to cut and build!"

Frightened, Charlie suddenly snapped out of his fear and tried to jerk away from the chocolatier. Wonka only grasped him more firmly and Charlie began struggling in earnest, trying to twist his way out of Wonka's grip. Firm hands pressed down on Charlie's shoulders and Wonka halted, apparently deep in his thoughts. Finally, he looked up, dark eyes shining with decision.

"Charlie," Wonka began, so seriously that Charlie looked him directly in the eye. "I cannot allow my factory to harm you. You are my only heir and only you have been able to understand the passion that I need to create the wonderful chocolate and keep the factory running. It can be only you, Charlie," his mentor's gaze looked directly into Charlie's being and he dreaded the words that he would hear next.

"I will keep you safe, Charlie, and I won't let you go like my father let me," Wonka's eyes flashed dangerously. He abruptly stood and carried Charlie into the rowboat that sat quietly next to the platform. Pushing off, Wonka stated, "We're going to the Inventing Room."

Hunkered down in the rowboat, Charlie screwed his eyes shut to the world, for once hoping that his time in the factory was all a dream. Wonka didn't say a word on their boat ride, but Charlie could feel him standing close. The boat stilled and they finally reached the Inventing Room. Picking up Charlie, the chocolate genius brought him into the room and deposited him in a nearby chair. Then, Wonka continued with work, leaving Charlie to his thoughts.

The day flew by, only interrupted by lunch, and Charlie spent the entire time in the same chair he had arrived to. Wonka worked quietly and both of them had seemed to calm down after the fiasco in the morning. There was a determined preciseness in Wonka's movements that Charlie was nervous about. But he waited, to see what would happen.

His mentor set down the new treat that he was working on, and moved things away. Moving towards the door, Charlie stood up to follow him and Wonka held out his arm before the boy could enter the Great Glass Elevator.

"You will stay here, Charlie," Wonka informed him, calmly. Charlie's eyes widened, incredulously.

"But, Mr. Wonka…" Charlie stammered, "I need to go back to my parents, they will worry about me. Why am I staying here?"

Wonka smiled, a little sadly, "You are staying here so that you don't wander off anymore. I can't have you losing your feet in my factory, after all."

Charlie gaped at his mentor, praying that he did not mean what he thought he meant. "But I cannot just stay here," Charlie protested, "for how long will you keep me here?"

"Why Charlie, I don't mean to let you leave."

With that, Wonka stepped into the elevator and sped off, alone. Charlie stood, stunned, and alone.

For days, Charlie searched for a way out. But there was no boat that passed the entrance from the river any longer, and all of the side entrances were locked. Ooompa-loompas came and went at their will, somehow, with breakfast and supper for Charlie every day. No matter how Charlie searched, however, he could not find how they were getting in the room. He did not work with Wonka when the man came in the room, but continued his search under Wonka's very nose. Charlie would not speak with his mentor, though his mentor often chatted away to Charlie about each new idea that he had for his candies. Apparently Charlie's lack of response did nothing to deter him. According to Wonka, the Buckets had been informed that Charlie had been moved to his own personal room, and they sent their greetings every day.

Once Charlie had given up on finding a way out of the room, Charlie began to talk to Wonka again, begging the man to let him out and see his family again. He tried to reason with his mentor, promising that he would never go near the other rooms again. To this, Wonka often turned a deaf ear or assured Charlie that his confinement was for his own good, that it was all to keep him safe. It took a week before Charlie stopped trying to make his teacher understand.

Charlie fell into a silence. He would wait in one corner of the Inventing Room while Wonka did his work and at night, Charlie would work diligently on his own creation. Wonka, to his credit, never pried into what the boy was up to, but merely kept him under watch. Every day, the mentor would make a point to go to his student and send his family's greetings as well as explain why it was that Charlie had to stay. He brought new candies and treats to Charlie, in some attempt to pacify the boy. Each time, Charlie took the candy and set it aside, not saying a word to the older man. Losing sleep and eating little, Charlie became paler and thinner than he was before he came into the factory and his eyes grew dull, as they had never been before.

Nearly a month later, Wonka brought Charlie a brand new candy that had just made a smash on the market.

"Candy paper," the eccentric man bragged, "one of the best things to come to young boys and girls everywhere. Whenever they get bored during class, they simply take a few licks of their little book and they enjoy the most wonderful fruity flavors. And when their teachers come by to look, they just write on it, as though it was ordinary paper!" Charlie calmly took the sheet of paper from the chocolatier and placed it on his ever-growing mound of sweets. A hurt look swept over Wonka's face before he plastered on a grin once again. "Very well, good night, my Charlie!" And Wonka left the room.

Sighing to himself, Charlie looked over his pile of candy, knowing that even if he were to try it, everything would taste bitter to him now. He fingered the new paper softly and let out a short gasp when he cut himself on the edge. "Just like real paper," he muttered. Charlie watched the blood trickle down his forefinger and felt the depression settle over him. He sat down heavily and sunk into his thoughts. He would be trapped in this room forever, or until Mr. Wonka changed his mind. According to his grandparents, it had taken years before Wonka reopened his factory, after claiming to close it forever. Years without his family, years without the sun, …years without his freedom. Charlie had been so excited to come and live here, but he never expected to be made a prisoner to the chocolate genius. All he had wanted was to learn from the man who created the sweetest chocolates in the world, but he hadn't wanted to learn at such a price. His entire life had just been taken from him.

Staring dazedly at his finger, Charlie brought it to his lips to suck the blood off. He paused and turned to the paper once again. His life had already been taken from him, what else was there for him at the factory? If he could only reach his family or make his mentor understand, then he would have something, but the stubborn man wouldn't listen to the boy. Charlie decided to take back his freedom and, finding a pen, scribbled over a sheet of paper. He laid one of his creations on top, the ones he had been working on all week. Then he sat down and held the paper to his wrist, looking the other way, and slashing the material over his skin. Charlie looked back to see the blood dot over his skin. He had missed the vein, but at least he knew it would work. Determined, he slit his skin again and again, wincing at each fresh, sharp pain. Finally, one of his cuts freely spurted blood and, watching it, Charlie felt faint and passed out onto the blood-dripped floor beneath him.

Surprisingly, it was hours before one of the ooompa-loompas contacted Willy Wonka. He had been in the Taffy Room and had nearly wrapped himself up in taffy when he heard what had happened to Charlie. Frantically, Wonka rushed to the elevator and urged it on quickly to the Inventing Room. Sprinting between the machines, Wonka finally spotted Charlie on the floor, arm, face and clothes stained with blood. Panicked and distressed, he scooped up Charlie into his arms and searched the uncut arm for a pulse. Finding a weak beat, tears fell down his cheeks as he tore off strips of his shirt and wrapped them around Charlie's still-bleeding wrist.

Looking down into Charlie's face miserably, Wonka whispered, "Oh, Charlie. What were you thinking?" He spotted the bloody sheet on the floor and cursed himself for ever inventing the blasted thing. Laying Charlie gently down on the floor, Wonka took up the sheet and ripped it to shreds. Searching for the other sheets that he had given the boy, Wonka paused at the sheet that Charlie had written on. He picked up the new sweet that Charlie had invented and carefully set it down as he read the paper.

"Dear Mr. Wonka—" it began. "I can't tell you how sorry I am that it has come to this. But I feel that it is the only way that I will ever breathe again. You told me once that a chocolatier needs to shrug off all of his burdens and fly solo, …fly free. You had meant leaving my family, which I refused, but you did get one thing right. I needed to be free. Free with my own choices and my own life. I find that I cannot have that here, in the Inventing Room. I feel trapped and I cannot breathe this way. I am so sorry. Please tell my family how much I love them, dearly, and please, please take care of them. I only wish I could see them once more. Goodbye, Willy. –Charlie."

Feeling depressed and guilt sweep over him, Wonka turned to the sweet that Charlie had made. It was a small sphere, perfectly clear, that sparkled in much the same way that Wonka's rock candy had sparkled. But this treat seemed to draw its reflection from the eyes of the owner and Wonka could almost see Charlie's eyes as he worked on it. Carefully laying it on his tongue, the chocolatier was blown away. Wonka could actually taste the sorrow and hopelessness that Charlie had poured into making it. It was like tasting Charlie's tears, sweet with their innocence to the world and salty with the hardship and loss that had been placed upon the poor boy. True regret welled up in Wonka as he had realized what he had done, and he openly cried out his sorrow and misery for his dreaded mistake, the candy treat followed with tears of his own.

After calming down some, Wonka knew what he had to do, and he carefully lifted the fragile boy into his arms and went to the Great Glass Elevator.

Charlie's eyes flickered a few times to adjust themselves to the light. Surprised at how weak he felt, he did not attempt to sit up, but merely turned his head to the side to be greeted by clumps of Wonka's sugar grass. Blinking incredulously this time, Charlie wondered if this was the heaven that people often talked about. A movement to the side caught his attention, but as Charlie moved his head around, a wave of dizziness overcame him and he shut his eyes again. He waited for the dizzy spell to go away when he heard a voice he didn't expect.

"Charlie, are you waking now?"

Charlie opened his eyes to see Wonka sitting next to him in the field. He looked briefly around to see that they appeared to be in the Chocolate Room, but Charlie would not let his hopes rise until he was sure. "Yes," he answered softly.

Wonka leaned down before him, and the earnestness in his face took Charlie aback, "Oh Charlie, I cannot express how sorry I am, for everything." The chocolate man's sincerity poured out from him and Charlie believed that he saw regret and fear in his mentor's eyes. "I don't know how I could have locked you up like that and not realized… I truly did just wish to keep you safe, Charlie, but I didn't understand… Can you ever forgive me, Charlie?"

Charlie turned his gaze down into the grass, remembering the pain of his confinement all too well. "How could you cage me like that?" Charlie murmured, "I don't understand, I thought we were partners."

Wonka sighed, "Oh, my poor boy, how do I explain this?" His gaze wandered over Charlie, "You are my young protégé, my heir, my wonderful student… You are the future of this factory, Charlie, and I have always protected the future for the factory. I couldn't bear to have you taken away from me by some carelessness, you see? I didn't trust you to be safe on your own, just as I didn't trust my most secret recipes with ordinary workers. I regret this now," Wonka stated mournfully. "You are so much more than the future of this factory, Charlie. You are an incredibly gifted boy whose kindness and wisdom goes beyond me." Here, Wonka turned his head away as Charlie tried to catch his eye. "I don't deserve to have you here."

Charlie allowed a silence to drop over them as he absorbed what Wonka was trying to tell him. Though the torture of his cage had been terribly cruel, he found himself carefully considering Wonka's words and feeling rather sorry for the man. His intentions had been good, Charlie was sure, but the odd man was so unused to normal interaction that he hadn't understood what the consequences were for trying to keep him safely in a cage. He suspected that the man had never even had a pet, let alone a friend. The greatest surprise of all, …Charlie found himself forgiving his mentor for everything. Realizing that his mentor had shifted further away from him in shame, Charlie decided that he would try to give his mentor, …no, his friend, some peace of mind.

Wonka stiffened as he felt Charlie's small arms wrap themselves around his shoulders and bury his face in his neck. After a moment, the chocolate man relaxed, and the hug became something that neither of them had felt before. It was no longer awkward for them, but they seemed to flow into each other with understanding. For once, Willy Wonka felt at peace and Charlie Bucket felt safe once more in the presence of the man he so admired. They no longer needed words and simply sat there, comforted by each other, for a long time. As the day moved on, they finally got up and Wonka picked up the boy in his arms, as Charlie was still weak from his ordeal, and they walked towards the Bucket house for a filling meal together. Relaxed and safe, Charlie sweetly kissed Wonka's cheek before they entered the house, and all the tears were cleansed away. Not to mention, Wonka still had Charlie, and now, he knew how to keep him free.


End file.
